Membrane Biology and Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common fatal genetic illness for Caucasians in the U.S. Most patients with cystic fibrosis die of respiratory failure caused by chronic lung infection.

This brings up questions: How do ions transport across airway, reproductive and intestinal tissues? How do water and gas transfer between blood and metabolizing tissues? Answering these questions and understanding the mechanisms that regulate transport can allow Dalton researchers to understand CF and find therapy for the gene mutations that cause it.

Investigators

This research group studies fundamental transport properties of biological membranes that are important to cardiovascular function. Research focuses on the movement of calcium ions in vascular smooth muscle and cardiac myocytes and sodium-calcium exchange in the heart; secretion of hormones at the cellular level and the role membranes play in the secretory process; and the membrane changes that are associated with cystic fibrosis. Investigators include: